KCA 1st GM R7: Balkishan crushes Mehar, maintains pursuit with Aakash
GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO) defeated one of his coleaders, GM Marat Dzhumaev (UZB) to emerge sole leader 6.5/7 at KCA's God's Own Country's 1st GM 2025. IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) scored a big win over GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM). Balkishan A scored a brilliant win over IM Mehar Chinna Reddy C H. He made his intentions clear early in the game and did not give any chance to his opponent to get back in the game. FM Aakash G converted his longterm extra pawn advantage into a win against GM Karen Movsziszian (ARM). Balkishan will have the tall task to stop the sole leader, Pantsulaia. The remaining two pursuers - Aakash and Semetei will clash against each other. Round 8 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed
Pantsulaia emerges sole leader
GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO) emerged sole leader with 6.5 points at the end of the eighth round of the KCA’s 1st International Chess Festival – Category A Tournament, organised by Kottayam Chess Academy, today. In a major upset of the tournament, top seed GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM) was shocked by IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) and the latter is in second position with G Aakash of Tamil Nadu and Balkishan A of Karnataka, who scalped grandmaster Karen Movsziszian (ARM) and IM Mehar Chinna Reddy of SC Railway respectively.
Levan - Marat
Should Black take the c6-pawn in the above diagram? The obvious answer is yes. Because if Black doesn't, there is a good chance that it will haunt him by becoming a passed pawn which is what happened. 38...bxc6 39.Rxc6 Bf8 and Black would have been fine. Instead, 38...b6?? 39.Re4 Bc3 40.Re7 Rd2 41.e4 Bxb4 42.Rxc7 and White went on to win the game, thanks to his passed c6-pawn.
Semetei - Karen
IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ, 2313) sacrificed his knight 34.Nxf3! to improve his position 34...gxf3 35.Qe6 Qd2 36.Qd7+ Kh6?? Black needed to retreat his king to h8 and allow perpetual check by the queen to accept a draw. 37.Qxd6+- Qxd3 38.g4 Qe2 39.Kg3 Qe8 40.Qc7 Qe1 41.g5+ Kxg5 42.Qf4+ Black resigned as there is a checkmate on the next move.
Balkishan - Mehar
Balkishan made his intentions clear that he is playing for only one result when he went 16.g4 followed by 17.g5 attacking on his opponent IM Mehar Chinna Reddy C H's (2398) hook on h6. 17...hxg5 18.Rhg1! now Black cannot take it as Rxg7+ leads to checkmate. 18...f6 19.Bg6 Nd3+ 20.Kb1 Nxe5 21.Bxe5 fxe5 22.Qh5 Rf6 23.Rxg5 bringing more pieces into the attack is always a great idea. 23...Qd6 24.Qh7+ Kf8 25.Qh8+ Ke7 26.Qxg7+Kd8 27.Rh5 threatening Rh8+ 27...Rf8 28.Rxd5! and it's over. White just gave absolutely no chance to his opponent.
A total of 234 players including 16 GMs, 12 IMs and a WIM are taking part from 13 countries across the world. The eight-day ten round GM tournament is being organized by Kottayam Chess Academy from 30th April to 7th May 2025 at The Courtyard Banquet Hall Kanjikuzhi in Kottayam, Kerala. The time control of the event is 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
Replay Round 7 games
Round 7 results
| Bo. | No. | White | Typ | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Black | Typ | Rtg | Club/City | No. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | GM | Pantsulaia, Levan | 2532 | GEO | 5½ | 1 - 0 | 5½ | GM | Dzhumaev, Marat | 2352 | UZB | 13 | ||||
| 2 | 12 | IM | Tologon Tegin, Semetei | 2358 | KGZ | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5½ | GM | Grigoryan, Karen H. | 2556 | ARM | 1 | ||||
| 3 | 26 | Balkishan, A. | 2134 | KAR | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | IM | Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H. | 2418 | SCR | 6 | |||||
| 4 | 30 | FM | Aakash, G | 2100 | TN | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | GM | Movsziszian, Karen | 2417 | ARM | 7 | ||||
| 5 | 2 | GM | Petrosyan, Manuel | 2544 | ARM | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Nguyen, Van Huy | 2363 | VIE | 11 | ||||
| 6 | 4 | GM | Savchenko, Boris | 2459 | RUS | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Laxman, R.R. | 2290 | ICF | 19 | ||||
| 7 | 8 | GM | Fedorov, Alexei | 2396 | BLR | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | IM | Gochelashvili, David | 2227 | RUS | 22 | ||||
| 8 | 9 | GM | Deepan, Chakkravarthy J. | 2394 | ICF | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | GM | Teterev, Vitaly | 2266 | BLR | 21 | ||||
| 9 | 10 | IM | Schekachikhin, Maksim | 2370 | FIDE | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | IM | Sharma, Dinesh K. | 2164 | UP | 25 | ||||
| 10 | 28 | Majumder, Shrayan | 2110 | MAH | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | IM | Nitin, S. | 2331 | TN | 14 | |||||
| 11 | 15 | IM | Rajesh, V A V | 2331 | SCR | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | FM | Matta, Vinay Kumar | 2054 | UBI | 37 | ||||
| 12 | 16 | FM | Sanz Wawer, Daniel | 2316 | ESP | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4½ | Abhishek, T M | 2044 | KER | 41 | |||||
| 13 | 67 | Afreed, T Khan | 1921 | AP | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Karthikeyan, P. | 2312 | ICF | 17 | |||||
| 14 | 79 | Krishay, Jain | 1891 | WB | 4½ | 0 - 1 | 4½ | GM | Podolchenko, Evgeniy | 2307 | BLR | 18 | |||||
| 15 | 61 | Gowrishankar, Jayaraj | 1943 | KER | 4 | 0 - 1 | 4 | GM | Sanikidze, Tornike | 2448 | GEO | 5 |
Standings after Round 7
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | Rp | n | w | we | w-we | K | rtg+/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | GM | Pantsulaia, Levan | GEO | 2532 | GEO | 6,5 | 33 | 2546 | 7 | 6,5 | 5,71 | 0,79 | 10 | 7,9 | ||
| 2 | 26 | Balkishan, A. | IND | 2134 | KAR | 6 | 30 | 2408 | 7 | 6 | 3,79 | 2,21 | 20 | 44,2 | |||
| 3 | 30 | FM | Aakash, G | IND | 2100 | TN | 6 | 30 | 2357 | 7 | 6 | 3,90 | 2,10 | 20 | 42 | ||
| 4 | 12 | IM | Tologon Tegin, Semetei | KGZ | 2358 | KGZ | 6 | 28,5 | 2285 | 7 | 6 | 5,62 | 0,38 | 10 | 3,8 | ||
| 5 | 1 | GM | Grigoryan, Karen H. | ARM | 2556 | ARM | 5,5 | 33,5 | 2412 | 7 | 5,5 | 5,67 | -0,17 | 10 | -1,7 | ||
| 6 | 11 | GM | Nguyen, Van Huy | VIE | 2363 | VIE | 5,5 | 33,5 | 2312 | 7 | 5,5 | 5,39 | 0,11 | 10 | 1,1 | ||
| 7 | 13 | GM | Dzhumaev, Marat | UZB | 2352 | UZB | 5,5 | 32,5 | 2346 | 7 | 5,5 | 4,97 | 0,53 | 10 | 5,3 | ||
| 8 | 9 | GM | Deepan, Chakkravarthy J. | IND | 2394 | ICF | 5,5 | 30 | 2250 | 7 | 5,5 | 5,95 | -0,45 | 10 | -4,5 | ||
| 9 | 15 | IM | Rajesh, V A V | IND | 2331 | SCR | 5,5 | 28,5 | 2229 | 7 | 5,5 | 5,55 | -0,05 | 10 | -0,5 | ||
| 10 | 18 | GM | Podolchenko, Evgeniy | BLR | 2307 | BLR | 5,5 | 28,5 | 2216 | 7 | 5,5 | 5,65 | -0,15 | 10 | -1,5 | ||
| 11 | 16 | FM | Sanz Wawer, Daniel | ESP | 2316 | ESP | 5,5 | 24 | 2038 | 7 | 5,5 | 6,29 | -0,79 | 20 | -15,8 | ||
| 12 | 7 | GM | Movsziszian, Karen | ARM | 2417 | ARM | 5 | 33 | 2138 | 7 | 5 | 6,26 | -1,26 | 10 | -12,6 | ||
| 13 | 22 | IM | Gochelashvili, David | RUS | 2227 | RUS | 5 | 33 | 2286 | 6 | 4 | 3,38 | 0,62 | 10 | 6,2 | ||
| 14 | 5 | GM | Sanikidze, Tornike | GEO | 2448 | GEO | 5 | 32 | 2191 | 7 | 5 | 6,14 | -1,14 | 10 | -11,4 | ||
| 15 | 4 | GM | Savchenko, Boris | RUS | 2459 | RUS | 5 | 31,5 | 2194 | 7 | 5 | 5,96 | -0,96 | 10 | -9,6 |
Round 8 pairings
| Bo. | No. | White | Typ | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Black | Typ | Rtg | Club/City | No. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | GM | Pantsulaia, Levan | 2532 | GEO | 6½ | 6 | Balkishan, A. | 2134 | KAR | 26 | ||||||
| 2 | 30 | FM | Aakash, G | 2100 | TN | 6 | 6 | IM | Tologon Tegin, Semetei | 2358 | KGZ | 12 | |||||
| 3 | 1 | GM | Grigoryan, Karen H. | 2556 | ARM | 5½ | 5½ | FM | Sanz Wawer, Daniel | 2316 | ESP | 16 | |||||
| 4 | 13 | GM | Dzhumaev, Marat | 2352 | UZB | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Deepan, Chakkravarthy J. | 2394 | ICF | 9 | |||||
| 5 | 11 | GM | Nguyen, Van Huy | 2363 | VIE | 5½ | 5½ | IM | Rajesh, V A V | 2331 | SCR | 15 | |||||
| 6 | 18 | GM | Podolchenko, Evgeniy | 2307 | BLR | 5½ | 5 | GM | Savchenko, Boris | 2459 | RUS | 4 | |||||
| 7 | 28 | Majumder, Shrayan | 2110 | MAH | 5 | 5 | GM | Petrosyan, Manuel | 2544 | ARM | 2 | ||||||
| 8 | 5 | GM | Sanikidze, Tornike | 2448 | GEO | 5 | 5 | Bhoir, Paras Dilip | 2085 | MAH | 32 | ||||||
| 9 | 6 | IM | Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H. | 2418 | SCR | 5 | 5 | AIM | Arul, Prakash N | 2075 | TN | 34 | |||||
| 10 | 7 | GM | Movsziszian, Karen | 2417 | ARM | 5 | 5 | Karan, J P | 2067 | KER | 36 | ||||||
| 11 | 33 | FM | Kumar, Gaurav | 2079 | BIH | 5 | 5 | GM | Fedorov, Alexei | 2396 | BLR | 8 | |||||
| 12 | 39 | IM | Sarwat, Walaa | 2047 | EGY | 5 | 5 | IM | Schekachikhin, Maksim | 2370 | FIDE | 10 | |||||
| 13 | 46 | FM | Ramakrishna, J. | 2032 | UBI | 5 | 5 | IM | Nitin, S. | 2331 | TN | 14 | |||||
| 14 | 17 | GM | Karthikeyan, P. | 2312 | ICF | 5 | 5 | Siddhanth, Poonja | 2046 | KAR | 40 | ||||||
| 15 | 19 | GM | Laxman, R.R. | 2290 | ICF | 5 | 5 | Jayanth, Suravarapu | 1948 | TEL | 60 |
About the Author
Prof. Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. Member of FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of Titles Commission in All India Chess Federation, Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Arbiter for six world championships, many Asian, International and National Championships. Nominated as one of the top seven arbiters in the world for the past hundred years by FIDE.
The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed
